Summary:
Roache and Chris Lippard were on the run from a 48 hour crime spree that included the killing of Chad Watt. Attempting to leave the state, Lippard drove their vehicle into a ditch, disabling it. Roache and Lippard walked towards the nearest house on Rabbit Skin Road in order to steal a car. This house was 126 Earl Lane, the home of Earl (72) and Cora Phillips (71). Lippard and Roache entered and held them at gunpoint. Roache then took guns from the house, bound the Phillips' hands with duct tape, then fled with Lippard in their 1986 Ford pickup truck. Driving away, Lippard overturned the truck. Lippard returned to the house. Defendant stayed behind to gather their items from the truck. Lippard then yelled for help and Roache saw Lippard fighting with a man, later determined to be the Phillips' son, Eddie. Roache shot Eddie once in the chest with the shotgun. Roache then reloaded the gun and went to the house with Lippard. They were confronted by Mitzi Phillips, Eddies wife. Roache broke open the door and shot her once in the face. Roache then followed their 14 year old daughter, Katie, into the bathroom and shot her once in the side of the head. Lippard and Roache then went to the living room and shot both Earl and Cora Phillips in the head. Three generations of a family were eliminated without provocation and without mercy. Roache was arrested later near the Phillips home, and immediately confessed to the murders. He later waived all appeals. Accomplice Lippard received a life sentence.

4/24/2001 - Roache sentenced to to death in Haywood County Superior Court for the murders of Mitzi and Katie Phillips. He also receives life sentences for the murders of Earl, Cora and Eddie Phillips.

Witnesses named for Charles Roache execution (October 16, 2004)

RALEIGH - Witnesses have been named for the execution of Charles Wesley Roache, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection Oct. 22 at 2 a.m. at Central Prison.

Roache, 30, was sentenced to death in April 2001 in Haywood County for the murders of Mitzi and Katie Phillips. He also received life sentences without parole for the murders of Earl Phillips, Cora Philips and Eddie Phillips. An additional sentence of life imprisonment was imposed in Alexander County Superior Court for the murder of Chad Watt.

Official Witnesses:

Tina Robodee – member of the Phillips family
Laura Cragg – friend of the Phillips family
Sharon Grant – member of Chad Watt’s family
Adam Watt – member of Chad Watt’s family
R.T. Alexander – Sheriff, Haywood County
Toby Hayes – Special Agent, State Bureau of Investigation

RALEIGH - Correction Secretary Theodis Beck has set Oct. 22, 2004 as the execution date for inmate Charles Wesley Roache. The execution is scheduled for 2:00 a.m. at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Roache, 30, was sentenced to death April 24 and 25, 2001 in Haywood County Superior Court for the murders of Mitzi and Katie Phillips. He also received life sentences without parole for the murders of Earl Phillips, Cora Owens Philips and Eddie Lewis Phillips. An additional sentence of life imprisonment was imposed in Alexander County Superior Court for the murder of Chad Watt.

Central Prison Warden Marvin Polk will explain the execution procedures during a media tour scheduled for Monday, Oct. 18 at 10:00 a.m. Interested media representatives should arrive at Central Prison’s visitor center promptly at 10:00 a.m. on the tour date. The session will last approximately one hour.

The media tour will be the only opportunity to photograph the execution chamber and deathwatch area before the execution. Journalists who plan to attend the tour should contact the Department of Correction Public Affairs Office at (919) 716-3700 by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 15.

ATTENTION EDITORS: A photo of Charles Roache (#0345539) can be obtained by using the "Offender Search" function on the Department of Correction Web site at www.doc.state.nc.us. For more information about the death penalty, including selection of witnesses, click on “The Death Penalty” link.

Correction Secretary Theodis Beck has set Oct. 22, 2004 as the execution date for inmate Charles Wesley Roache. The execution is scheduled for 2:00 a.m. at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Roache, 30, was sentenced to death April 24 and 25, 2001 in Haywood County Superior Court for the murders of Mitzi and Katie Phillips. He also received life sentences without parole for the murders of Earl Phillips, Cora Owens Philips and Eddie Lewis Phillips. An additional sentence of life imprisonment was imposed in Alexander County Superior Court for the murder of Chad Watt.

On the morning of September 29, 1999 Chris Lippert and Chad Watt had been drinking and looking for marijuana. Lippert had met Chad Watt earlier that month. Lippert and Watt went to Mark Stout's house and picked up Stout and his friend, Charles Roache. While Lippert was driving Watts' car, he ran over something and punctured the car's gas tank. When Watt became upset about the damage, Roache and Stout beat him and threw him in the trunk of the car. Lippert drove to a wooded area where Roache hit Watt with a shotgun and, according to Lippert, broke Watt's neck. Roache shot Watt in the eye, and Lippert shot Watt in the head. The three men buried Watt in the woods and got a ride to Roache's house and Stout's house. The men left the shotgun at Stout's house and put their clothes in a bag, which they later threw in a dumpster at a fish camp. Lippert returned to his grandparents' house and spent the night there.

The next morning, Lippert stole a 1970 Ford truck and went to Stout's house. Stout, Lippert and Roache went to Wal-Mart, where Lippert and Roache stole two pairs of boots. The men also stole a license plate from a similar truck in the parking lot. Stout gave Lippert and Roache a sawed-off .20-gauge shotgun, ammunition, and a can of mace. As Lippert and Roache left the area, they stole items from several vehicles and bought beer. They also stopped at a rest area and tried to rob a man, but he did not have a wallet. The two traveled to Haywood County, situated near the North Carolina-Tennessee border, and exited Interstate 40 at Jonathan Creek. As Lippert attempted a three-point turn, he backed the truck over a roadside embankment and was unable to get out.

Lippert and Roache began walking down Rabbit Skin Road and looked for a car to steal. As the two walked along Earl Lane, they discovered the home of Earl and Cora Phillips. Roache entered the house first, while Lippert said he remained outside. Upon hearing screams and gunshots, Lippert entered the house and saw Earl and Cora Phillips on the living room floor. Roache told exactly the opposite story, saying that Lippert entered the home while he had remained outside until he heard screams and gunshots. Roache demanded guns, money, and car keys and searched for those items while Lippert took $50 from Mr. Phillips' wallet. Lippert put his hands on Mrs. Phillips' head to quiet her, and Roache shot her in the head. Lippert's shirt was covered with blood spatter from the wound. Roache shot Mr. Phillips in the head; he and Lippert stole Mr. Phillips' Ford truck and left the house.

Lippert lost control of the vehicle and flipped it a short distance from the house. Lippert and Roache returned to the Phillips house to find another car to steal. As they stood in the yard, the Phillips' son Eddie grabbed Lippert by the hair and the two fought. Roache shot Eddie, then went into the house alone. Lippert said he followed Roache inside after hearing more screams and gunshots and saw the body of Mitzi Phillips, Eddie's wife, in the kitchen. Lippert and Roache stole a maroon Saturn and soon wrecked it on Interstate 40. The two then split up.

Lippert was befriended by Mr. Ricky Prestwood shortly after the murders. Mr. Prestwood bought Lippert some clothes at the Salvation Army, let him wash his bloody clothes with Clorox and Dawn, and let him stay at his campsite overnight. The next day, Mr. Prestwood purchased a bus ticket to New Orleans for Lippert and took him to the bus station.

Police were dispatched to the Phillips home at 9:59 p.m. Once there, they discovered the bodies of Earl and Cora Phillips in the living room of their home. The bodies of Mitzi Phillips and Eddie's and Mitzi's youngest daughter Katie Phillips were found in other rooms of the house. Eddie Phillips' body was found on the side of the road close to his parents' house. When he was discovered by a neighbor, he was still alive and tried to speak; however, he died shortly thereafter.

Police found a Ford truck off Rabbit Skin Road, and also discovered Earl Phillips' Ford wrecked and lying upside down a short distance from the home. Witnesses saw two white men driving Mitzi Phillips' maroon Saturn at a high rate of speed. The car was headed toward Tennessee. The officers collected shotgun shells and DNA evidence. The shells at the murder scene and near the stolen vehicles were fired from guns found in the maroon Saturn and near the Phillips home. Shells were found in all three vehicles.

Lippert's DNA was found on the sawed-off shotgun retrieved from the Saturn. On October 1, 1999, Roache was arrested near the Phillips home. He made an inculpatory statement to State Bureau of Investigation agents admitting he shot the five members of the Phillips family, though he maintained two of the victims “were already dead” when he shot them. Roache also told the agents that Lippert was with him at the Phillips home. Lippert was promptly charged with five counts of first-degree murder and a manhunt ensued. On October 8, 1999, Lippert was apprehended in New Orleans and taken into custody by Louisiana authorities.

"Visitation hours end for Roache, set to die by lethal injection; last to visit was his mother," by Kerra L. Bolton. (Oct. 21, 2004)

Visiting hours ended at 11 p.m. for Charles Wesley Roache. His last visitor was his mother.
Officials will take the family to the mailroom of Central Prison in Raleigh, where they will stay until the time of the execution. There, the family will make the decision of who from Roache's family will witness the execution.
The victims' family is staying in a separate room.

At 5 p.m. Roache had his last meal - a sirloin steak, popcorn shrimp, salad with bleu cheese dressing, a honeybun and vanilla Coke.

Here's a description of the lethal injection method of execution, according to the N.C. Department of Corrections.
The following description is online at http://www.doc.state.nc.us/DOP/deathpenalty/method.htm.

In 1998, North Carolina made lethal injection its only method of execution. In preparation for the execution, the inmate is secured with lined ankle and wrist restraints to a gurney. Cardiac monitor leads and a stethoscope are attached. Two saline intravenous lines are started, one in each arm, and the inmate is covered with a sheet.

The inmate is given the opportunity to speak and pray with the chaplain. The warden then gives the condemned an opportunity to record a final statement that will be made public. After the witnesses are in place, the inmate's gurney is taken into the chamber by correctional officers who draw the curtain and exit. Appropriately trained personnel then enter behind the curtain and connect the cardiac monitor leads, the injection devices and the stethoscope to the appropriate leads. The warden informs the witnesses that the execution is about to begin. He returns to the chamber and gives the order to proceed.

The lethal injection process involves the simultaneous slow pushing into two intravenous lines of chemicals contained in two separate sets of syringes. The syringes are prepared in advance and each contains only one drug.
The first syringes contain no less than 3000 milligrams of sodium pentothal, an ultra short acting barbiturate that quickly puts the inmate to sleep. The second syringes contain saline to flush the IV line clean.
The third syringes contain no less than 40 milligrams of pancuronium bromide (Pavulon), which is a chemical paralytic agent. The fourth syringes contain no less than 160 millequivalents of potassium chloride, which at this high dosage interrupts nerve impulses to the heart, causing it to stop beating. The fifth syringes contain saline to flush the IV lines clean.

After a flat line displays on the EKG monitor for five minutes, the warden pronounces the inmate dead and a physician certifies that death has occurred. The witnesses are escorted to the elevators and the body is released to the medical examiner.

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. -- Locals say the 1999 slaying of six people robbed this tight-knit mountain community of its sense of security, which they believe won't change despite Friday's planned execution of a man responsible for the killings.
Before Sept. 30, 1999, Jonathan's Creek in Waynesville was a place where a neighbor could come to Sorrells Citgo for help with a plumbing problem or a hitchhiker might get a ride on a sweltering summer day, according to locals.
Those days are gone.

"I never locked my car until then," Tammy Sheets, an office manager at Interstate Battery, told the Asheville Citizen-Times. "But now I lock it and my car is sitting 20 feet away. We guard the children and never let them out of our sight."

Five years ago, on a warm autumn night, Charles Wesley Roache and his accomplice, Christopher Lippard, shot the Phillips family as they returned home from an evening at the Haywood County Fair.
The two men, already on the run for another slaying in Alexander County the day before, exited I-40 and tried to steal a car after their own vehicle became stuck.

The Phillips family returned home during the robbery attempt.
Earl Phillips and his wife, Cora, had their wrists bound with duct tape before they were shot. Their son Eddie, daughter-in-law, Mitzi, and 14-year-old granddaughter, Katie, were killed as they returned from an evening at the fair in Lake Junaluska.

Neighbors and friends say they were a hard-working family, active in the local church and in school events.
"If there was a call from a neighbor or whoever, you could always count on Earl," said Michael Sorrells, 48, owner of nearby Sorells Citgo. "Eddie's wife (Mitzi) was an outstanding person in the community. They were really good mountain people."

Roache and Lippard were convicted of the Phillips family murders in separate trials in 2000 and 2001. Roache received three life and two death sentences in the case and was sent to death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, where he was to be executed at 2 a.m. Friday. Lippard was sentenced to life in prison.

Roache gave up his post-conviction appeals last month and asked his attorneys not to do anything that might extend his life. Roache and his attorneys declined to comment.

Allowing Roache to volunteer for his own execution amounts to state-assisted suicide, said Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.
The organization points to Roache's troubled childhood, which was marked by cruelty, abuse and violence, as reasons not to execute him.
"His death will not bring healing to the families and survivors of this terrible tragedy," Dear said. "They just create another family of victims, the family members of the people executed."

Other death penalty opponents say that the state's money would be better spent on child abuse prevention and treatment programs that could have reached Roache earlier.
These rationalizations don't explain the senseless acts of September 1999 or the fact that residents and shop owners in Jonathan's Creek live in fear of what trouble might come through on the other side of the interstate.

One Waynesville resident said she and her brother are afraid to buy homes near I-40.
"The locals think about it every time, especially if they've got kids," said Deborah Sherrill, co-owner of Sherrill's Pioneer Restaurant, just down the road in Clyde. "I'm better off being closer to town, where there's more people."

"Haywood County Family's Killer Wants To Atone For Deaths; Man One Of Two Convicted In Six 1999 Deaths." (Associated Press October 18, 2004)

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Charles Wesley Roache says he wants to atone for killing a Statesville man and five members of a Haywood County family five years ago by dying in the execution chamber at Central Prison.
Roache could have extended his life five or more years by appealing his death sentences. Instead, he told the Charlotte Observer that he gave up his appeals to spare the relatives of his victims years of legal wrangling and uncertainty.

Roache said it only takes words to say you're sorry, but he said it takes your heart to show it.

Five years ago, Roache and Christopher Wayne Lippard went on a killing rampage.
A Statesville man was shot to death in Alexander County. Then, Roache and Lippard headed to Haywood County, where they killed five people in a botched robbery attempt.

Both men have been convicted of the six deaths. Lippard was sentenced to life in prison; Roache got the death penalty for two of the Haywood County murders.

"N.C. killer faces execution in slayings of six people," by William L. Holmes. (AP October 21, 2004)

A man who dropped legal appeals that could have extended his life prepared to be executed early Friday in what he described as an act of contrition for his role in the slayings of six people during a two-day killing spree.
Charles Wesley Roache, 30, said he gave up all appeals to show his remorse to the survivors of his victims.
"It only takes words to say you're sorry," Roache told The Charlotte Observer last week, "but it takes your heart to show it."

Roache was scheduled to die at 2 a.m. at Raleigh's Central Prison. By about 5 p.m., he requested a last meal of sirloin steak, popcorn shrimp, salad with blue cheese dressing, a honey bun and a vanilla Coca-Cola, prison officials said.

Death penalty opponents argued the state shouldn't execute Roache without examining his mental fitness, but Roache asked his lawyers to do nothing to keep him alive, including making a case for clemency before Gov. Mike Easley. Easley decided Thursday night that he saw no reason to stop the execution.

Roache and Christopher Wayne Lippard, 25, were convicted in the Sept. 29, 1999, shooting death in Alexander County of Chad McKinley Watt, 22, of Statesville. The pair then headed west to Haywood County in a stolen pickup truck. A day later, after that vehicle was struck, they went to a home near Interstate 40 to steal a car.
The Phillips family returned home from the Haywood County Fair during the robbery attempt.
Earl Phillips, 72; his wife, Cora, 71; their son, Eddie, 40; daughter-in-law Mitzi, 44; and granddaughter Katie, 14, were killed in one of the worst mass slayings in the history of western North Carolina.

Lippard was sentenced to life in prison. Roache got the death penalty.
Roache gave up his post-conviction appeals after one mandatory appeal to the state Supreme Court based on the trial record.

Assistant District Attorney Alan Leonard, who prosecuted Roache, said Roache has been contrite since he was arrested near the Phillips' home. He quickly confessed to the killings and never argued his innocence at the trial.

Witnesses testified during his sentencing hearing about a long family history of drug and alcohol abuse and violence.
Roache's maternal grandmother died in front of her daughter after she was doused with gasoline by her husband and set on fire in 1958.

According to court filings, Roache's mother once made him pet a litter of kittens and then watch as she killed them one by one. She set puppies on fire in a barrel and once told Roache that if he went to church something might happen to another of his dogs. The puppy was dead on the doorstep when he returned home, according to documents.
Three of Roache's former teachers testified at his sentencing hearing that Roache was a quiet child who was often teased about his stuttering and surname. He abused alcohol and drugs and was high and drunk during the slayings.

Ken Rose of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham said Roache's decision to give up appeals amounts to state-sponsored suicide.
Roache's lawyer, Jim Cooney, said he's abiding by his client's request not to extend the case, though he believes the state should evaluate Roache.
"Charles' reasons, how can I argue with them?" Cooney said. "He's clearly rational. This isn't a fit of depression."

WAYNESVILLE - They lock the doors and carry guns now in Jonathan Creek.
The random shooting deaths of the Phillips family in September 1999 shook the community of businesses, convenience stores and family homes that dot the area near Interstate 40 in Waynesville.
Their angst hasn't subsided even though Charles Wesley Roache will be executed at 2 a.m. Friday for the murder of the Phillips family and Chad Watt, 22, of Statesville.

Before the killings, Jonathan's Creek was a place where a neighbor could come to Sorrells Citgo for help with a plumbing problem or a hitchhiker might get a ride on a sweltering summer day.
Now things are different.
"I never locked my car until then," said Tammy Sheets, an office manager at Interstate Battery. "But now I lock it, and my car is sitting 20 feet away. We guard the children and never let them out of our sight."

Five years ago, on a warm autumn night, everything changed here when Roache and his accomplice, Christopher Lippard, shot the Phillipses as they returned home from an evening at the Haywood County Fair.
The two men, already on the run for the Watt slaying in Alexander County on the day before, exited I-40 and drove on Rabbit Skin Road to steal a car after their own vehicle was stuck.

Earl Phillips and his wife, Cora, had their wrists bound with duct tape before they were shot. Their son Eddie, daughter-in-law, Mitzi, and 14-year-old granddaughter, Katie, were killed as they returned from an evening at the fair in Lake Junaluska.
Neighbors and friends say it was a tragic end for a hardworking family who was active in the local church and in school events.
"If there was a call from a neighbor or whoever, you could always count on Earl," said Michael Sorrells, 48, owner of nearby Sorrells Citgo. "Eddie's wife (Mitzi) was an outstanding person in the community. They were really good mountain people."

Volunteer execution

Roache and Lippard were convicted of the Phillips family murders in separate trials in 2000 and 2001. Roache received three life and two death sentences in the case and was sent to death row at Central Prison in Raleigh.
He gave up his post-conviction appeals last month and asked his attorneys not to do anything that might extend his life. Roache and his attorneys declined to comment to the Citizen-Times.

Allowing Roache to volunteer for his own execution amounts to state-assisted suicide, said Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.
The organization points to Roache's troubled childhood, which was marked by cruelty, abuse and violence, as reasons not to execute him.

During his trial, Claudia Coleman, a Raleigh psychologist, testified that Roache said his father forced him to drink beer at age 6 and liquor at age 8. Roache's father also frequently ridiculed his stuttering and once tried to choke him.
Roache's mother once killed a litter of kittens in front of him, according to court testimony. She herself had suffered emotional problems after she watched her father kill her own mother by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire in 1958.

During Roache's trial for the Phillips family murders in 2001, his sister, Linda Roache Josey, testified about their father's harsh discipline, including how he whipped his children with a switch until it drew blood and how he made them stand at attention and salute him for long periods.
"He drank excessively," Josey said at the time. "He was really mean, and he was really ugly to me and Charles. Charles, he was like an outcast."

This series of "traumatic events" during childhood left Roache a shy, socially inept person who suffered from feelings of anxiety and was prone to impulsive behavior in the face of stressful situations. To alleviate his anxiety, Roache abused alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and prescription medications, the psychologist testified.
"His own suicide by the hands of the state is only more violence," Dear said. "His death will not bring healing to the families and survivors of this terrible tragedy. They just create another family of victims, the family members of the people executed."

Other death penalty opponents say that the state's money would be better spent on child abuse prevention and treatment programs that could have reached Roache earlier.
"This is a situation where the results of what happens when we don't protect our children become clear," said Daniel Barber, a death penalty opponent in Asheville. "We don't make those connections because it takes 10, 15 or 20 years for it to show up. Virtually everyone on death row was abused as a child."

Moving forward

But none of these rationalizations explain the senseless acts of September 1999 or the fact that residents and shop owners in Jonathan Creek live in fear of what trouble might come through on the other side of the interstate.
One resident confessed to buying a gun and learning how to shoot. Another Waynesville resident said she and her brother are afraid to buy homes near the interstate.
"The locals think about it every time, especially if they've got kids," said Deborah Sherrill, co-owner of Sherrill's Pioneer Restaurant, just down the road in Clyde. "I'm better off being closer to town, where there's more people."

Connie Millsaps, one of Eddie and Mitzi's two remaining daughters, still lives in the town. She got married in March 2001 and works in a nearby office.
"I'm just taking it day by day," Millsaps said. "I see people who don't have good relationships with their parents. If I brought anything out of this, it was to be more loving to your parents and treasure every moment with your family, because you really don't know when it's the last time you're going to see them."

"Execution ends killer's odd saga; Charles Wesley Roache gave up his appeals to demonstrate his remorse for six murders in 1999," by Matthew Eisley. (October 22, 2004)

Charles Wesley Roache, whom the state put to death early today, was no ordinary killer.
His execution before dawn this morning by lethal injection at Central Prison in Raleigh ended a most unusual murder case.

To start, Roache and Christopher Wayne Lippard didn't kill just one person in 1999. Over two days in September, they shot to death six, beginning in Alexander County with the slaying of Chad McKinley Watt, 22, of Statesville.
Then they drove down Interstate 40 and murdered a Haywood County family that had just returned home from a local fair: Earl Phillips, 72; his wife, Cora, 71; their son Eddie, 40; their daughter-in-law Mitzi, 44, and granddaughter Katie, 14.
It was one of Western North Carolina's worst mass murders. The motive was robbery.

But then Roache did the unexpected. He waited nearby for police, surrendered and confessed right away, even going so far as to tell police about Watt's killing, which they didn't yet know about.
Roache, now 30, was sentenced to die. Lippard, 25, got life in prison without parole.

After one mandatory appeal, Roache did what almost no one else on death row does: He gave up years' worth of further possible appeals and told the state to go ahead and kill him. He said it was to show his remorse and to try to make up for his crimes.
"It only takes words to say you're sorry," Roache told The Charlotte Observer last week, "but it takes your heart to show it."

The chemicals involved in lethal injection are intended to stop the heart and the lungs, leading to an unconscious death.
On Thursday night, as Roache awaited execution, he had a final meal of sirloin steak, popcorn shrimp, salad with blue cheese dressing, a honey bun and a vanilla Coca-Cola, prison officials told The Associated Press.

Assistant District Attorney Alan Leonard, who prosecuted Roache, said Roache has been contrite since his arrest.
Death penalty opponents argued that the state shouldn't execute Roache without first examining his mental fitness. But Roache told his lawyers to let him die instead.

Witnesses testified during Roache's sentencing hearing about his family's long history of violence and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Roache's maternal grandmother died in front of her daughter in 1958 after her husband doused her with gasoline and set her on fire.
According to court filings, Roache's mother once made him pet a litter of kittens and then watch as she killed them one by one. She set puppies on fire in a barrel and once told Roache that if he went to church something might happen to another of his dogs. The puppy was dead on the doorstep when he returned home.
Three of Roache's teachers testified at his sentencing hearing that Roache was a quiet child who was teased about his stuttering and his last name. He abused alcohol and drugs, and was high and drunk during the slayings.

Ken Rose, director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, said Roache's abandoning his appeals amounted to state-sponsored suicide.
Roache's lawyer, Jim Cooney of Charlotte, said he followed his client's request not to keep the case going, though he agreed the state should evaluate Roache.
"Charles' reasons -- how can I argue with them?" Cooney told the Observer. "He's clearly rational. This isn't a fit of depression."

Charles Wesley Roache was executed on Oct. 22. Our deepest sympathies are extended to his loved ones. We also keep the family members and loved ones of Mitzi and Katie Phillips in our prayers.

The state of North Carolina is scheduled to execute Charles Wesley Roache, a white man, Oct. 22 for the September 1999 killings of Mitzi Phillips and Katie Phillips in Haywood County. He was also convicted of killing four other people. Roache decided to forgo any further appeals after the Supreme Court of North Carolina rejected his appeal in May.

Roache was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the crimes, causing his attorneys to assert that he was not capable of making rational choices or forming intent to kill.

Roache has faced many difficulties in his lifetime. The defense asserted that Roache struggled in school from the beginning when they noted his poor academics dating back to his elementary school days. Dr. Claudia Coleman, an expert in the field of forensic psychology, testified that Mr. Roache also suffered from “chronic anxiety disorder, had a low- average intelligence, and experienced a violent upbringing.” Mr. Roache also suffers from various personality disorders.

He has a vast history of “poly substance dependence” as noted by Dr. Coleman. Dr. Coleman attributes Roche’s long dependence on alcohol and drugs to his anxiety disorder.
Dr. Coleman testified at trial that the combination of alcohol and drug use as well as Mr. Roache’s anxiety and personality disorders would have “affected his judgment, reasoning and problem- solving skills at the time of the murders.” Roache was 25 at the time of his crime.

This is the second of two executions scheduled by the state of North Carolina in the month of October and third scheduled this year. The other scheduled execution in October involves a mentally ill man. Many groups in North Carolina are calling for a moratorium on executions in the state. Earlier this year the State Legislature in North Carolina failed to pass a bill that would have effectively placed a moratorium on all executions in the state. However, polls have shown that as many as 70 percent of North Carolinians support a moratorium on executions in the state.

Please personalize the message below or submit this one to be faxed and emailed to Gov. Easely.

"N.C. killer executed for role in slayings of six people." (AP 10/22/2004 8:30 AM)

(RALEIGH) - A man convicted of killing six people has been executed in Raleigh's Central Prison. Charles Wesley Roache was pronounced dead at 2:18 a.m. Friday.

Roache was responsible for one of the worst killing sprees in North Carolina history. He ultimately did little to stop his death by injection, deciding to drop all but an appeal that was required by state law. Roache said he wanted to show the families of his victims that he was sorry.

He was the third person executed in North Carolina this year and the 33rd executed in the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977. Two more executions are scheduled before the end of the year.

Roache and another man were convicted in the kiling spree in late September of 1999. Christopher Wayne Lippard was sentenced to life in prison.

Charles Wesley Roache, who suffered appalling childhood abuse and neglect, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 22. He was sentenced to death in Haywood County for the 1999 murders of Earl, Cora, Eddie, Mitzi, and Katie Phillips. His co-defendant, Chris Lippard, was sentenced to life in prison.

He and Lippard had been drinking heavily and abusing a potent animal tranquilizer for several days leading up to the crime. They had intended to steal a car from the home where the Phillips family lived, but their plan ended tragically with the senseless death of five people. Charles was found the following morning by the police and accepted full responsibility for the murders. He is and has always been extremely remorseful for what he has done.

Ever since Charles was arrested, he has wanted to die. After his first appeal, which is mandatory, he immediately fired his lawyer and asked that an execution date be set. The state quickly complied.

Because the punishment of death is final and because it is to be reserved for the worst crimes and also for the most culpable defendants, death sentenced inmates go through several stages of appeals in state and federal courts. If Governor Easley does not intervene, Charles will be executed without post-conviction court reviews to determine such things as whether he was and is competent, had adequate legal representation, and whether prosecutors followed the law.

Charles experienced a childhood no child should have to endure. His mother used to punish him by killing his pets in front of him. She made him pet a litter of kittens and then watch as she killed them one by one. She set his puppies on fire in a barrel. One time she told Charles that if he went to church something might happen to his puppy. He went to church and when he came home, his puppy was dead on the doorstep.

Charles' maternal grandfather murdered his grandmother by setting her on fire.
Charles' father was physically and emotionally abusive. He beat and fought Charles as if he were a grown man. He frequently said that Charles was not his son.
When Charles was young, his father would kick him out of the house. He would have to live in the tobacco barn, sometimes for as long as a week, and sometimes in the winter. Charles' sister snuck him food.
Charles' father shot a man in front of Charles and his sister on Thanksgiving Day when Charles was 10 years old. Shots were flying, and Charles' sister got hit with a piece of flying glass.

His father was a terrible alcoholic and started giving Charles alcohol to drink when he was about six years old. He used to drive Charles and his sister to Virginia to visit family, drinking the entire trip. One time Charles and his sister were put in foster care for the night because their father was thrown in jail for drunk driving.
When Charles was between six and nine years old, his parents would leave him alone in North Carolina while they visited family in Virginia . Sometimes they did not return for a week.

Charles' parents' marriage was marked with hostility and abuse; he watched his father beat his mother on several occasions. One time Charles caught his mother in bed with another man. His mother ended up leaving his father when Charles was 15 years old.
Not surprisingly, Charles had problems in school. He was diagnosed with several learning disabilities. He repeated the second grade once and the seventh grade three times. He continues to have a severe stuttering problem.

When Charles' sister got married, he walked her down the aisle because their father was too drunk to attend. Her mother didn't go to the wedding, either.
With the aid of a father who plied him with alcohol as a child, and as so many abused and neglected children do, Charles turned to drugs and alcohol to try to escape the pain of his life. His life spun out of control and culminated in the terribly tragic deaths of the Phillips family.

Certainly there is more in Roache's life and in his mental makeup that led him to where he is today. Maybe there were fundamental problems with his case. Without a full review of his case, we'll never know.

Please contact Governor Easley and ask him to grant clemency to Charles Roache. (The above information was prepared from Charles Roache's legal files.)

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Charles Wesley Roache, an admitted murderer who never denied his part in a killing spree that claimed six lives and gave up the right to fight to the end for his own, was executed early Friday.

Roache, 30, appeared calm and contrite at the end. He had instructed his lawyers to drop all the legal maneuvering that could have given him five more years to live. He embraced Christianity in prison and said he believed it was more important to offer survivors of his six victims certainty and peace rather than stretch his own life.
``I can only hope and pray the pain and hurt I caused you will be healed as I give my life as a key to forgiveness,'' Roache wrote in his final statement. ``May God's love shine on you.''

Roache and Christopher Wayne Lippard, 25, were convicted in the Sept. 29, 1999, shooting death in Alexander County of Chad McKinley Watt, 22, of Statesville. The pair then headed west to Haywood County in a stolen pickup truck. A day later, after that vehicle was struck, they went to a home near Interstate 40 to steal a car.

The Phillips family returned home from the Haywood County Fair during the robbery attempt. Earl Phillips, 72; his wife, Cora, 71; their son, Eddie, 40; daughter-in-law Mitzi, 44; and granddaughter Katie, 14, were killed. Lippard was sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial.

Watt's mother and brother witnessed the execution, along with a relative of the Phillips family.
Linda Josey, Roache's sister, and his former fiancee, Mary Carrigan, also watched. Roache told them repeatedly through the 2-inch glass separating the death chamber from the witness room that he loved them and winked at them several times. He also thanked Joel Harbison, one of his attorneys, and acknowledged others with nods and a few words.

Shortly before the execution began at 2 a.m., Roache closed his eyes and his lips moved in apparent prayer. Josie and Carrigan clenched each other and sobbed quietly as hidden executioners injected deadly drugs into Roache. The survivors of the victims sat stoically.
Roache's eyes fluttered as he turned for a last time to his supporters.
``I'm gone. I'm gone,'' he said just before his head slumped onto his left shoulder.
Roache was pronounced dead at 2:18 a.m.
All of the witnesses declined to comment about the case.

Roache was the third person executed in North Carolina this year and the 33rd executed in the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977. Two more executions are scheduled before the end of the year.

Death penalty opponents argue that Roache shouldn't have been executed without an examination of his mental fitness. Ken Rose of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham said Roache's decision to give up appeals amounted to state-sponsored suicide.

Roache's life had been difficult, with a history of violence and substance abuse revealed by his sister and others during his sentencing hearing.
Roache's maternal grandmother died in front of her daughter after she was doused with gasoline by her husband and set on fire in 1958.
In turn, his mother was often violent as well, according to court filings. She once made him pet a litter of kittens and then watch as she killed them one by one. She set his puppies on fire in a barrel. Once she threatened Roache against going to church. His dead puppy lay on his doorstep when he arrived home, according to documents.
Three of Roache's former teachers testified at his sentencing hearing that Roache was a quiet child who was often teased about his stuttering and surname. He abused alcohol and drugs and was high and drunk during the slayings.

Jim Cooney, one of his lawyers, has said he believed his client was clearly rational, though, when he asked for a stop to legal efforts to save his life, and so he abided by the request.
``Charles' reasons, how can I argue with them?'' Cooney said.

State v. Roache, 595 S.E.2d 381 (N.C. 2004) (Direct Appeal).

Background: Defendant was convicted in the Superior Court, Haywood County, of capital murder of five victims, and sentenced to death.

Holdings: Upon allowing defendant to bypass The Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court, Parker, J., held that:

(1) short-form murder indictment did not deprive trial court of jurisdiction over case;
(2) defendant was not deprived of fair and impartial jury;
(3) defendant did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel;
(4) admission of photographs of victim of uncharged murder and videotape graphically depicting crime scene was not abuse of discretion;
(5) defendant was not prejudiced by admission of evidence regarding other crimes that were committed within crime spree that culminated in murders;
(6) evidentiary rulings excluding defendant's evidence were not abuse of discretion;
(7) prosecutor's closing argument during guilt phase and sentencing phase were not so improper as to obligate trial court to intervene ex mero motu;
(8) there were no instructional errors that warranted reversal;
(9) defendant was not prejudiced by evidentiary rulings during sentencing;
(10) defendant was not entitled to peremptory instructions on certain statutory and nonstatutory mitigating factors; and
(11) death sentence was not disproportionate to crime or to other similar cases in which death sentence was imposed.

No error.

PARKER, Justice.
Defendant Charles Wesley Roache was indicted on 18 October 1999 for the first-degree murders of Earl Phillips, Cora Owens Phillips, Eddie Lewis Phillips, Mitzi Carolyn Blazer Phillips, and Katie Phillips. Defendant was tried capitally and found guilty of first-degree murder based on felony murder alone in the deaths of Earl Phillips and Cora Phillips. Defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder based on premeditation and deliberation and felony murder for the deaths of Eddie Phillips, Mitzi Phillips, and Katie Phillips. Following a capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended that defendant be sentenced to death for the murders of Mitzi Phillips and Katie Phillips, and to life imprisonment without parole for each of the other three murders. The trial court entered judgment accordingly.

The State's evidence tended to show that on the evening of 30 September 1999 defendant and Chris Lippard were on Rabbit Skin Road in the vicinity of the victims' houses. The two had been on a crime spree of approximately forty-eight hours duration, during which defendant killed a man named Chad Watt early in the morning of 29 September 1999 and assaulted a man named Bart Long at a rest area west of Hickory on Interstate 40 in the afternoon of 30 September 1999. Defendant and Lippard were driving on Interstate 40 in an attempt to leave North Carolina when they left the interstate at exit 20, Jonathan Creek Road, which intersects Rabbit Skin Road approximately thirty to fifty yards away. Lippard accidentally backed the truck off the road and into a ditch.

After their truck was disabled, Lippard offered the driver of one vehicle that stopped fifty dollars to drive them to the interstate. Defendant also attempted to stop at least one additional vehicle to get a ride. Two of the people in these cars later testified that one of the two men carried a case of beer. The efforts to obtain a ride from passers-by were unsuccessful.
Defendant and Lippard walked towards the nearest house on Rabbit Skin Road in order to steal a car. This house was 126 Earl Lane, the home of Earl and Cora Phillips. Lippard went into the house. Defendant entered the house after he heard a woman screaming from within. Upon entering, defendant saw the woman, Cora Phillips, on the floor with Lippard holding a shotgun to her head. The woman's husband, Earl Phillips, pleaded with defendant to prevent Lippard from killing the woman. Defendant assured Earl that no one was going to die.

At defendant's request, Earl Phillips showed defendant the cabinet in which Earl kept his guns. Defendant took a 20 gauge shotgun, several shotgun shells, and a .22 caliber rifle. Defendant then disabled the telephone by cutting the cord leading into the wall. He also bound Earl and Cora Phillips' hands together with duct tape. Defendant and Lippard left in Earl Phillips' 1986 Ford pickup truck.

Defendant and Lippard drove Phillips' truck away from the house towards Rabbit Skin Road. While driving down the lane, they passed a small red car heading towards the house. Before reaching the intersection of Earl Lane and Rabbit Skin Road, Lippard overturned the truck. Defendant broke the passenger window in order for the pair to escape. Lippard returned to the house. Defendant stayed behind to gather their items from the truck and then waited in the woods near the wrecked truck.
Shortly thereafter, defendant heard Lippard yelling for assistance. The man from the red car was fighting with Lippard for control of a gun. Defendant shot the man, Eddie Phillips, once in the chest with the shotgun he was carrying. Defendant then reloaded the gun and went to the house with Lippard. The woman from the car, Mitzi Phillips, was standing in the doorway refusing the pair entry. Defendant broke open the door and shot Mitzi Phillips once in the face. Defendant saw a girl, fourteen-year-old Katie Phillips, run into the bathroom. He pushed open the door to find her sitting on the toilet. Defendant shot Katie Phillips once in the side of the head. Lippard, meanwhile, had gone to the living room where he and defendant had left Cora and Earl Phillips bound. Defendant returned to that room to find Earl Phillips slumped over. Cora Phillips was lying on the floor with blood coming from her head. Defendant shot both Cora and Earl Phillips once in the head.

Lippard drove himself and defendant away from the house in the red car, a 1993 Saturn belonging to Mitzi Phillips. While driving down Earl Lane they passed one car, later found to belong to Danny Messer. As they reached the end of the lane they passed another car, later found to belong to Todd Berrong. They drove the Saturn onto Interstate 40.

Danny Messer had been driving home that evening when he saw Earl Phillips' truck upside down at the end of Earl Lane. He turned into the lane to notify Earl Phillips that his truck "had rolled off." As he drove up to Earl and Cora Phillips' house, he saw Mitzi Phillips' red Saturn leave the parking area near the house, heading towards Rabbit Skin Road.

At the house, Messer saw the bodies of four of the victims: Eddie, Mitzi, Earl and Cora Phillips. Messer testified at trial that he believed Eddie Phillips was still alive at that time. After making this discovery, Messer left, encountering Todd Berrong at the end of Earl Lane at Rabbit Skin Road. Although there was some evidence to the contrary, Berrong and Messer apparently returned to the Phillips' house so that Berrong could view the bodies. The two then drove to a convenience store located approximately one-quarter of a mile away, and Berrong called 911.

Berrong testified that he waited at the end of Earl Lane for police. When the police arrived, they noted the locations of the bodies and that all the victims were deceased. The police secured the scene.
After defendant and Lippard left the scene of the crime, they drove for a short distance on Interstate 40 before they hit a concrete divider. The crash disabled the car. The accident occurred approximately one to one and a half miles west of the Jonathan Creek Road exit on Interstate 40. Defendant exited the vehicle and left the highway on the side with the guardrail. Lippard crossed the barrier at the opposite side of the road and disappeared.

Around 8:30 a.m. on 1 October 1999, Jim Fowler discovered defendant hiding under a camper top lying on Fowler's property, about three-quarters of a mile to one mile from the interstate where the red car crashed. Fowler's son called the police while Fowler watched defendant, holding him at gunpoint until a deputy arrived from the Haywood County Sheriff's Department.

Officer Beecher Phillips transported defendant to the sheriff's department, where he turned defendant over to the custody of Detective Larry Bryson and State Bureau of Investigation Agent Toby Hayes. Agent Hayes advised defendant of his rights, and defendant indicated his understanding. Defendant waived his rights by signing a form offered him by Agent Hayes.
Defendant initially told the officers that he had shot the man in the yard, the woman in the kitchen, and the girl in the bathroom.

He stated that Lippard had shot the older couple in the living room. During the course of the questioning and the recording of his statement, however, defendant admitted that he had shot all five victims. He persisted in stating that he was responsible for all five deaths even after officers pointed out the discrepancy between this statement and his earlier story.
Defendant also talked to police about the murder of Chad Watt in Alexander County. This murder resulted from a fight between the two, during which defendant "beat [Watt] so bad [defendant] knew [he]'d have to kill him so he wouldn't tell on [defendant]." Defendant gave police information on the location of the body, which led Alexander County Sheriff's deputies to recover Watts' body on 2 October 1999.

Defendant confessed as well to an attack on a man which occurred at a rest area on Interstate 40 west of Hickory. Defendant pretended to use a urinal while waiting for a victim to enter the restroom. When the victim, a man named Bart Long, entered a stall and sat on the toilet, defendant sprayed him with pepper spray and put him in a sleeper hold. Defendant attempted to obtain the man's wallet, but Long's yells attracted a crowd of people, causing defendant to flee.

Defendant additionally gave police information concerning his accomplice, Chris Lippard. At the time of his initial conversations with police, defendant did not know Lippard's last name. Over the next several days, however, defendant made telephone calls which eventually led him to discover Lippard's last name, information which he shared with police. This information led to Lippard's arrest in New Orleans about a week later.

Pathologists performed autopsies on all five victims on 2 October 1999 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. John Butts, the Chief Medical Examiner of North Carolina, either performed or supervised each of these autopsies and testified at defendant's trial about the cause of death for and injuries to each victim. Earl Phillips' autopsy showed severe injury to his head as a result of a contact gunshot wound to the right side of his head, in the area of his right temple, meaning that the barrel of the shotgun was against the body of the victim at the time the gun was fired. Pathologists removed lead shot from his body. Dr. Butts' testified that Earl Phillips' death was caused by a shotgun wound to the head. The pathologists also noted that Earl Phillips' hands were bound with duct tape.

Dr. Butts performed the autopsy of Cora Phillips, which revealed several injuries to her body. Her death was due to a single contact shotgun wound in the corner of her mouth on the left side of her face, which caused massive injury to her head. Pathologists found lead pellets and a plastic shot cup in her head. The autopsy also showed blunt force injuries--lacerations and bruising--on her right forearm, which were consistent with defensive injuries. These were incurred before she died. Cora Phillips' hands were also fastened together with duct tape.

The autopsy of the body of Eddie Phillips revealed a single gunshot to the left side of the body which struck multiple organs in the chest and abdomen. Pathologists determined that the gunshot wound was a contact wound. Shotgun pellets and shotgun wadding were recovered from Eddie Phillips' body at the time of the autopsy. In Dr. Butts' opinion the shotgun wound would have resulted in unconsciousness within a matter of seconds. Pathologists also found blunt force injuries on Eddie Phillips' head behind and a little above the left ear; these injuries were likely inflicted while the victim was still alive. Dr. Butts testified that Eddie Phillips' death was caused by the shotgun wound to his chest.

The autopsy on Mitzi Phillips disclosed that she died from a shotgun wound to the head. The entrance wound was a large injury which effectively covered the forehead. There was an exit wound on the right side of the head, where some of the shot pellets had created a hole. Nonetheless, some of the shot pellets remained inside the body. The shot was likely fired from a close range, based on the powder stippling marks on the forehead around the wound.

As to the autopsy on the body of Katie Phillips, Dr. Butts testified that this body had evidence of a single shotgun wound to the head which had entered in the left eye. Some of the shot had exited from the right side of the head, but some shot was still present in the head at the time of the autopsy. The track was through the left eye into the skull. The force of the blow was enough to remove the brain from the cranial wall. Dr. Butts was of the opinion that the shot was fired from close range and was immediately incapacitating. The autopsy also revealed a defensive injury from the shotgun blast to Katie Phillips' left hand, indicating that she had raised her hand to shield herself from the gun shot. The shotgun wound to the head was the cause of Katie Phillips' death.

Dr. Claudia Coleman, an expert in the field of forensic psychology, testified at trial that defendant suffered from a chronic anxiety disorder, had a low average intelligence, and had experienced a violent upbringing. Defendant, according to Dr. Coleman, exhibited features typical of a dependent personality disorder, meaning that he has a high need for affection and security from other individuals. Dr. Coleman also testified to defendant's long history of polysubstance dependence, which she attributed to his anxiety. In the expert's opinion, defendant's alcohol and drug use on the afternoon and night of 30 September 1999 in combination with his personality and his anxiety disorders would have affected his judgment, reasoning, and problem solving capacities at the time he murdered the Phillips family.

* * * *

Defendant received a fair trial and capital sentencing proceeding, free from prejudicial error; and the death sentences in this case are not disproportionate. Accordingly, the judgments of the trial court are left undisturbed.
NO ERROR.